Message in a Bottle
by midnightmemoriesbb
Summary: Good bye, family. Good bye, junior year. Good bye, horrible people. Good bye, life.


**AN: Hi! I know I haven't been on in forever, I just got SUPER busy. I play competitive softball, so that took up all my weekends. And I graduated from middle school this year too, and I'm in three different high school classes, so that took a ton of time too **** But I'm back, and I've been doing a lot of writing this summer. Nothing is Ever the Same and Will Anything Ever be Back to Normal? will both be updated before the end of August. Also, do you guys want me to keep writing The Battle of the Labyrinth: Through Annabeth's eyes still? I feel like that was my least successful. Review and tell me if you want me to. This is a new story. I actually came up with the idea when my grandpa was out on the Oregon coast (I live in Portland, Oregon) and he found a message in a bottle. Of course, it never turned out to be anything interesting, just a kids name with all of his hobbies and things in it, but when I heard what he found, I immediately thought of this storyline. This will be a Percabeth story, even if it doesn't seem like it in the first few chapters. Enjoy!**

**Message in a Bottle**

**Did I just propose?**

June 17th, 2012

Marie Vanessa Chase

My whole life, I've always wondered why everyone was so judge mental. It was always "Oh, you haven't bought the latest perfume yet?" or, "I can't believe you're wearing that skirt to school. It totally shows your ass. Slut much?" Constantly, like a little ring in my ear I can't get rid of. I had never been able to escape. Until now.

First I just want to say sorry to my family. Mom, Dad. You have always been there for me. You were my safe place. You never questioned why I came home from school early, crying. Just held me. I love you. Malcolm, Matt, Bobby – You always lifted my spirits. Every time I was sad, or upset, all three of you would be there to tell a joke, make me laugh. I love you guys too.

Annabeth – My sister, my best friend, in this world of bitchy people and crazy things. I loved our late night chats, talking about boys, and friend problems. Luke Castellan, he was a big topic. And my 'best friend' Claire Fields. God, she was a _whore._ And, Annie? All those times you tried to get me to tell you whether or not she was really my friend? I just want to tell you that she wasn't. I hated her. And I hated myself for wanting to be like her. Popular, beautiful, lots of boyfriends. _That _was the only reason I was friends with her. I love you, Annabeth Isabella Chase.

Good bye, family.

Good bye, junior year.

Good bye, horrible people.

Good bye, life.

Percy

May 25th, 2014

_Will you marry me? _Four words that I just hadn't been able to say yet to my girlfriend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

I dipped my feet in the cool New York ocean water, watching Rachel play with our four year old son, Alex Jackson. She seemed so happy and content out here at our beach house; not like her normal stressed self in the city. Rachel and I had been dating for three years now, and it was our anniversary tomorrow. I had been planning on proposing for about a month now, but I just couldn't find the right time to pop the question.

Rachel and I had never had the most common twenty year old relationship. We had hooked up at a bar when we were eighteen. We weren't careful about it, and nine months later, Rachel came knocking on my door with a two day old baby. At first, we fought so much I thought I was just going to have to give up custody with Alex. But eventually we started to get along, seeing has how we had to be around each other so much. At Alex's year old birthday party, we kissed, and I asked her to be my girlfriend the next day.

"Daddy!" Alex's little voice rose barely above the waves. "Come in the ocean!" I laughed and swam out to where they were. I wrapped an arm around Rachel's waist, and held Alex in the other arm.

"Let me go, I want to show you something!" He whined.

I chuckled, and tightened my grip. "No buddy, it's not safe."

"But why?"

"Can you swim?"

"No."

"Then you can't let go of me." He sighed, and stopped struggling.

"Sweetie, are you hungry? It's lunchtime." Rachel asked Alex.

"Yea!" He bounded back into Rachel's arm.

"Are you coming?" She asked me.

"No, I'm gonna stay here and go for a walk along the water. I'll be up soon though." She nodded, knowing how much I loved the water. I pecked her cheek, and she waded out with a talkative Alex with her.

I watched them walk up the dune, then walked out of the water myself, going south along the water's edge. My father, Poseidon Jackson, owned a chain aquarium company and was extremely rich. He was always on the news for his charities and new aquarium openings. We both loved the water. My mom, Sally Jackson, used to tease us both, saying we were 'humans out of water'.

I kept my eyes on the stretch ahead of me. My feet padded softly against the sand. I looked out towards the ocean, and saw a huge wave coming for the shore. I stopped walking and waited for it to splash my feet. As it came crashing down, something heavy landed on my foot. Reaching down, I realized it was a bottle, with a little white slip of paper inside. My eyes widened as I popped the bottle open and pulled the small paper out. Inside, neat handwriting covered the page. My eyes scanned the paper, trying to read every single word of it, willing my dyslexia not to act up.

At first, I thought it was just some stupid girl note, where she wrote about her problems, and bottled it up, and wanted people to come find her and help her. But that wasn't it. The more I read on, the more I realized this was way more serious than that. A suicide note.

I was in no hurry to get back to our condo. I didn't really want to see Rachel that much, since I was still debating whether or not to give her the ring. And I needed time to think, also. I had to find this girls family. This note was meant for them. Her mom and dad must have thought she just did this to herself on impulse, leaving nothing behind for them to comfort themselves with. Her brothers, and sister, they must be so worried about her.

I was so lost in my thoughts, I almost passed the spot where I was supposed to turn up to get to the house. I sighed, and slipped the bottle into the inside of my coat, making my way up the small dune.

_I'll find this girl's family. _I promised myself.

Over the next twenty-four hours, I almost completely forgot about the bottle. Almost. Rachel, Alex and I had a great last full day at the beach. We swam at the club house, waded in the beach water, made a sand castle, and ate at our favorite restaurant. But, as the day progressed, I got more and more nervous. Tonight was the night that I was going to officially propose to Rachel, and I'll admit, I practically started shaking every time I thought about. I had made reservations for the nicest restaurant in Long Island, which had become our favorite restaurant to eat at.

I finished putting on my red tie, which matched with Rachel's favorite red cocktail dress. I pulled out the wine bottle from under the bed, and popped it open again. I read over and over what it said, trying to figure out a clue as to where they lived. But I found nothing.

It was so frustrating, knowing that I was stuck in New York, and could do nothing about it. I just wanted this trip to be over, so I could go home and find these people. I slipped the bottle into a pocket in my suitcase, so it would be easy to pack tomorrow. Rachel stepped out of the bathroom, looking beautiful as always.

"You ready?" She asks me. I nod silently, and take her hand. Jessica, our babysitter, was in the kitchen with Alex, making mac and cheese or something for dinner.

"Are you guys off?" Jessica asked.

"Yea, we'll be back in a few hours. Definitely by eleven." I said. "Are you guys good? Anything else you need?"

"No, we're good. Right, Alex?" Jessica looked down at him, a smile on her face.

"Yep!" He gave me the thumbs up. He absolutely adored Jessica. Sometimes, I thought he had a little crush on her.

"Alright." Rachel said. "Have him in bed by nine, please. The movie he picked out is over here. Turn the movie off, if it's past nine."

"Will do. Have fun you guys!" Jessica waved goodbye, Alex copying her actions.

"Bye sweetie!" Rachel and I waved goodbye back, and shut the door. Rachel sighed, and leaned against me. I laughed, and kissed her red curls.

"Long day?" I asked.

"Yes." Now it was her turn to laugh. We both climbed into the car, and were off.

Dinner went smoothly. We talked about Alex, what we were going to do about buying the new penthouse. I had slipped the ring to the waiter, with a little note that said _with the dessert._

We finished our main courses, and Rachel ordered a chocolate torte. I was praying this went well.

Rachel finished saying something, and I knew I was staring blankly at her. "Percy." She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. "Is everything ok? You've been distracted this whole dinner."

"Yea, yea, everything's great." I smiled at her, and she seemed to relax a little. After about five minutes, our chocolate torte came.

"Ooo yum!" She did a childish clap and I laughed. After that I was suddenly more relaxed about the whole 'proposing' thing. She took her first bite. The ring was propped against the tip of the cake, facing me. I would just wait until she took that bite.

"Mmm, that's good." She reached her fork back down for another bite, right at the tip. The ring clattered in front of her, and she dropped her fork. Her eyes turned wide, and her mouth formed a small 'o'. I got down on one knee, and took her hand, and the ring.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Will you marry me?" I wasn't nervous at all anymore.

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes!" She half screamed, and threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me. I pulled away after a little while, and slipped the ring on her slender finger. I left three hundred dollar bills on the table, and we left the place. I looked at the time on my watch. It was only nine thirty, which meant we had an hour and a half until we had to be back. So, of course, like teenagers, we had one, two, maybe three rounds of car sex. It was an amazing night. I didn't regret asking Rachel to marry me at all anymore.

Little did I know, that this feeling of no regret wasn't going to last long.

**AN: AHHHH! I'm so excited I just finished my first chapter of this story. I feel like it's going to be my best one so far. Please, please, please review. Also, I won't be having any more author notes after one at the beginning of the next chapter to tell you guys if I'm going to continue the BOTL story. So, if you have any questions, you can always PM me. Thanks so much for the support. ILY ALL!**


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